Take in 3 for free at Elmhurst Museum Day

There will be activities for kids and parents inside and outside the Elmhurst History Museum on Elmhurst Museum Day May 19. (Elmhurst History Museum)

You can see three local treasures for free during the 23rd Annual Elmhurst Museum Day from 1 to 5 p.m. May 19. The Elmhurst History Museum, Elmhurst Art Museum, and Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art will all offer free admission and activities for all ages during that annual event.

The Elmhurst History Museum will have visitors reliving the thrills and chills of Riverview at its new exhibit, “Worlds of Wonder: Remembering Chicagoland’s Amusement Parks,” which will run from May 17-Aug. 18.

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“We’re always a hub of activity,” said Patrice Roche, marketing and communications specialist for the Elmhurst History Museum. “We’re all about amusement parks this summer. The museum is going to be very family-friendly with a lot of interactives.”

That includes a virtual reality experience. “People can feel like they’re riding on the front car of a roller coaster in Kiddieland and Riverview, too,” Roche said.

There will also be a full size Skee-Ball machine, fun house mirrors and a photo booth. “The idea is that you feel like you’re at an old school amusement park,” Roche explained.

There will also be a variety of activities inside and, for Museum Day, there will also be activities outside, weather permitting. That includes a craft station where children can make their own carousel horse.

“We’ve got a really wonderful face-painting station that we had last year that was a huge hit,” Roche reported. “They’re really great face-painters.”

Lemonade and cookies will be served at the History Museum.

Over at the Elmhurst Art Museum visitors can view three new art exhibits: “With a Capital P: Selections by Six Painters” (May 11-Aug. 25); Luftwerk: Parallel Perspectives (May 11-Aug. 25); and “A Myriad of Media: Art by Charlene Lee-Freislinger” (May 12-June 7). They can also participate in a hands-on art activity.

“It’s a large-scale collaborative community piece where people add in colored transparencies,” said Jenn Guistolise, manager of community outreach and special events for the Elmhurst Art Museum. “There’s a mirror so when you spin this collaborative piece, the mirror will reflect like a kaleidoscope does.”

In addition, visitors will be able to make their own handheld kaleidoscopes.

Guistolise said that the annual event “opens the doors up to people who maybe have lived in the community and driven by numerous times and have never found an opportunity to come in. Having hands-on experiences will lend itself to a good experience for people.”

“For Museum Day, we will have Stone Hunt,” said Dorothy Asher, Museum Director of the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art. “It’s an activity where the children can look for stones. We’re giving away rocks and minerals. We also have our special exhibit, The Rock Cafe. That’s rocks and minerals that look like food. It’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner made of stone. It’s really clever and people really enjoy it.”

This is the last year that Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art will participate in Elmhurst Museum Day. The museum will close its Elmhurst location on May 31 and reopen in the fall in Oak Brook.

“We will miss Elmhurst and all the residents that have supported the museum through our 57 years in this location,” Asher said.